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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Business Development Manager

💰 $80,000 - $160,000

Business DevelopmentSalesPartnershipsGrowth

🎯 Role Definition

The Business Development Manager (BDM) is a revenue-focused, strategic seller responsible for identifying and closing new business opportunities, expanding relationships with existing accounts, and creating scalable partnership channels. The BDM blends consultative selling, market analysis, and cross-functional collaboration to drive revenue growth, increase market share, and accelerate time-to-value for customers. This role requires a strong mix of prospecting, negotiation, forecasting, CRM discipline, and strategic account planning.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Sales Representative / Inside Sales Executive with proven quota attainment
  • Account Manager or Customer Success Manager transitioning to new logo acquisition
  • Marketing or Product Specialist with demonstrated commercial impact

Advancement To:

  • Senior Business Development Manager / Strategic Account Executive
  • Director of Business Development or Head of Partnerships
  • VP of Sales / Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)

Lateral Moves:

  • Product Manager (go-to-market focus)
  • Strategic Partnerships Manager / Channel Manager
  • Enterprise Account Executive

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Prospect, research and qualify new target accounts using multi-channel outreach (cold calling, email campaigns, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, networking events) to build a robust, predictable sales pipeline that meets monthly and quarterly revenue targets.
  • Develop and execute a territory plan (or vertical/segment plan) that prioritizes high-potential accounts, maps decision-makers, and outlines account-specific value propositions to accelerate deal cycles and maximize win rates.
  • Manage the full sales cycle from initial outreach and needs discovery to solution presentation, proposal development, contract negotiation and closure while maintaining a high standard of consultative selling and customer empathy.
  • Build and deliver compelling sales presentations and product demonstrations tailored to buyer personas and business outcomes, translating technical capabilities into measurable ROI and business cases for stakeholders.
  • Create accurate sales forecasts and pipeline reports in the CRM (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot), update opportunity stages proactively, and commit to forecast cadence with sales leadership to ensure predictable revenue planning.
  • Lead complex negotiations on commercial terms, pricing, service level agreements (SLAs) and Statements of Work (SOWs) in coordination with legal, finance and executive stakeholders to protect margins and reduce contract friction.
  • Develop strategic partnerships and channel relationships (resellers, system integrators, technology partners) to expand reach, unlock joint-sell opportunities, and manage partner onboarding and enablement programs.
  • Conduct rigorous competitive analysis and market research to identify white-space opportunities, pricing pressures and product gaps; feed insights into product roadmap and marketing campaigns to sharpen positioning.
  • Collaborate cross-functionally with marketing, product, customer success, and finance to design go-to-market plays, pilot programs, promotional offers and bundled solutions that increase conversion rates and average deal size.
  • Create high-quality sales collateral, case studies, RFP responses and proposals that communicate differentiated value, reduce procurement friction, and accelerate legal and procurement approvals.
  • Track and analyze key performance indicators (KPIs) such as lead-to-opportunity conversion, average deal size, sales cycle length and churn risk to continuously improve sales processes and personal performance.
  • Manage and expand relationships with key accounts to identify upsell, cross-sell and renewal opportunities, partnering with Customer Success to ensure seamless onboarding and long-term retention.
  • Design and run targeted outbound campaigns (email sequences, account-based marketing, events) in partnership with marketing to generate qualified pipeline and nurture long-term prospects through buying stages.
  • Represent the company at industry conferences, trade shows, and networking events to build brand awareness, source strategic leads, and maintain market intelligence on customers and competitors.
  • Prepare and present quarterly business reviews (QBRs) and executive summaries that articulate progress against targets, highlight strategic risks and opportunities, and propose corrective actions.
  • Drive pricing strategy and commercial models for new deals, including usage-based, subscription, or volume pricing structures, ensuring deals align to company revenue recognition and margin objectives.
  • Mentor and coach junior BDRs/Account Executives on discovery techniques, objection handling, and closing strategies; participate in hiring and onboarding when required.
  • Support pilot programs and proof-of-concepts (POCs) by defining success criteria, timelines and commercial terms, ensuring pilots scale into long-term contracts when successful.
  • Maintain strict compliance with company policies including data protection, contract governance, and industry-specific regulations while reducing legal and procurement cycles through proactive engagement.
  • Build detailed business cases for new market entry, product bundles or channel programs, including revenue projections, cost estimates and go-to-market resource plans to inform leadership investment decisions.
  • Coordinate with product and engineering to capture customer feedback, prioritize feature requests and influence the product roadmap to solve critical customer pain points and enhance competitive differentiation.
  • Facilitate cross-selling initiatives by mapping existing customer portfolios, identifying complementary products/services, and working with internal stakeholders to build integrated offerings.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc market and customer research requests to inform strategy, pitch development and executive decision-making.
  • Contribute to the design and optimization of the organization’s sales playbook, lead qualification criteria and CRM processes.
  • Collaborate with enablement teams to develop training materials, objection-handling guides and competitive battlecards for the sales organization.
  • Participate in sprints or agile-style project reviews when launching new commercial initiatives, pilots or partner integrations that require cross-functional delivery.
  • Assist finance and legal with deal structuring details for complex transactions, ensuring compliance with internal approval thresholds and external regulatory requirements.
  • Provide sales input into pricing reviews, promotional planning and discount policy updates to protect margin while improving win rates.
  • Help coordinate customer references, case study development and marketing testimonials by facilitating introductions and ensuring client satisfaction.
  • Act as an internal advocate for customer success issues identified during pre-sales to ensure smooth handovers and a world-class customer experience.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • CRM proficiency (Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics) — disciplined use for pipeline hygiene, forecasting and reporting.
  • Sales forecasting and pipeline management — creating reliable forecast commitments and rolling pipeline reviews.
  • Contract negotiation and commercial structuring — experience drafting and negotiating SOWs, SLAs and master services agreements (MSAs).
  • Financial acumen and basic financial modeling — building ROI analyses, TCO calculations and revenue projections to justify deals.
  • Lead generation and outbound prospecting tools — experience with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Outreach.io, SalesLoft, or similar platforms.
  • Enterprise selling to C-suite and key decision-makers — navigating complex buying centers and champion creation.
  • Presentation and demo tools — PowerPoint, Google Slides, product demo platforms and screen-sharing best practices.
  • Proposal writing and RFP response — creating persuasive, compliant commercial proposals and technical responses.
  • Market research and competitive analysis — leveraging secondary research and market data to position offerings.
  • Data analysis and reporting — Excel/Google Sheets for deal modeling and CRM report building (pivot tables, VLOOKUP, dashboards).
  • Marketing automation and lead-nurturing platforms — Marketo, Pardot or HubSpot workflows to coordinate campaigns with sales.
  • Channel and partner management — recruiting, onboarding and co-selling with partners and resellers.
  • Basic legal and compliance understanding relevant to contracts, procurement and GDPR/CCPA where applicable.

Soft Skills

  • Consultative selling and active listening — uncovering implicit needs and aligning solutions to business outcomes.
  • Persuasive communication and storytelling — articulating value clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
  • Negotiation and influence — managing concessions, trade-offs and stakeholder expectations to close deals.
  • Strategic thinking — translating market insights into actionable territory and account plans.
  • Relationship-building and stakeholder management — fostering trust across buyer teams, partners and internal groups.
  • Resilience and persistence — maintaining momentum through long sales cycles and tough negotiations.
  • Cross-functional collaboration — working effectively with marketing, product, legal, finance and customer success.
  • Time management and prioritization — balancing pipeline development, account work and administrative tasks.
  • Analytical problem solving — using data to diagnose issues and optimize go-to-market approaches.
  • Coaching and mentoring — developing junior sellers and sharing best practices.
  • Adaptability and learning agility — quickly mastering new products, vertical nuances and sales techniques.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Finance, Economics, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent work experience demonstrating business acumen).

Preferred Education:

  • MBA or advanced degree in Business/Strategy or relevant industry certifications (sales, negotiation, partnership management).

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Marketing
  • Finance / Economics
  • Engineering (technical products)
  • Computer Science (SaaS/tech roles)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 3–7 years of progressive experience in B2B sales, business development, strategic partnerships, or enterprise account management.

Preferred:

  • 5+ years in enterprise sales or channel partnerships with a track record of exceeding quota in the relevant industry (SaaS, cloud, telecom, finance, healthcare, manufacturing).
  • Demonstrated experience selling to mid-market and enterprise accounts, managing multi-stakeholder deals, and closing transactions with multi-year contracts.
  • Experience working with cross-functional teams to launch products, scale partnerships and execute go-to-market plans.
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